Online
privacy is something on the minds of consumers and governments alike.
Privacy advocates have long supported more stringent controls over
the data that companies could collect and share with third-parties
without the express consent of the consumer. The problem is that
there are no clear cut guidelines in the U.S. that companies have to
follow.

Last
Thursday, new guidelines were released by the Obama administration
that recommends ways to protect the privacy of consumer's
online.

The new
recommendations would create the "Privacy Bill of
Rights" and would establish a privacy policy office within the
Commerce Department. The recommendations would also establish clear
guidelines for what types of data can be collected on a user and how
that data can be used by companies according to a Commerce report.
The Privacy Bill of Rights would give clear rules on data collection
and would set up an audit trail to hold companies accountable for
sticking to the rules.

The Washington
Post quotes
commerce Secretary Gary Locke saying, "Self-regulation without
stronger enforcement is not enough. Today's report is a road map for
considering a new framework that is good for consumers and
businesses."

The FTC
proposed a more stringent Do Not Track list early this month
and the Commerce department didn’t specifically endorse the call by
the FTC for the Do Not Track List. The recommendation for the
Commerce Department is to setup p privacy codes of conduct for
businesses and step up enforcement measures by the FTC to ensure that
the policies are followed.

Locke also stated that the U.S.
needs to ensure that regulators here coordinate their privacy
standards with the standards adopted in Europe and other countries so
there is no confusion. Chris Calabrese from the ACLU said, "This
is the first time that the administration has emphasized the need for
comprehensive privacy protections, and that as of today it is a Wild
Wild West out there for consumers and their privacy. We hope it will
lead to strong administrative protections but Congress needs to act."

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

If you access someone else's site, they have the right to do whatever they want with that information. This is how advertising works. They find out what people are buying or viewing and target ads toward that.

Do you have a right to privacy in someone else's home? No. Same goes for their website. That's not to say they can break the law. But trying to find a way to effectively advertise is not breaking the law.

When they start giving out my credit card number I'll complain. If you don't like the information a site you buy things from gives out on you, don't use that site. Same goes for listening to a radio station or watching TV.

There's a big difference between what you are suggesting happens and what really happens.

What really happens is that these ad makers are coming up with ads that track your entire browsing session, follow you after you've left the website, and even manage to stick around after you've cleared your browsing history (unless you know how to delete things like flash cookies on your own).

If I walk into a retail store, they dont get to know anything about me unless I decide to share that info with them.

Online stores should be the same.

There are companies out there that are sniffing encrypted packets of information that arent even involved with what users are doing! The reality of it is we NEED the goverment to step in and start to lay down some basic rights for us internet users just like other countries have already done or are in the process of doing because it is a problem.

The part I can't figure out is why you as an internet user don't want rights and privacy policies put into place that help protect YOU, but then again, I'm guessing by the tone of your headline and sarcasim that no matter what Obama tries to do, your one of those guys that shuts his eyes, covers his ears and yells "no! it's an Obama idea, it MUST be bad"

Brick and mortar stores also track purchases even if they don't have your name. Not to mention they charge higher mark ups to help make profits vs. the lower cost of business model of internet only stores.

And what do these sites on the internet potentially know about you except for the ones you buy things with? Your IP. They don't have your name and address either unless you give it to them. And while some online stores sell information to advertising partners, again, typically personal information isn't sold as well.

I'm not against being protected online. Nor do I think that the government will be able to stop it. Your problem is you put too much faith in the government to protect you instead of doing it yourself. This makes you lazy.

I have very little faith if any at all in my government. But I already do pretty much everything that can be done to protect my information online: private browser, hard and soft firewall with stealth mode, Internet security software/anti virus etc...

But from what I've read all of this is circumvented by companies who have packet sniffing techs that can find out way more then they be allowed to know that aren't even supposed to be involved with what I'm doing.

But you assume I'm lazy based off of no information to draw any rational conclusion from and that makes you something else all together ;)

So if they're illegally breaking encryption (as it is illegal), prosecute them for that.

This also does absolutely nothing to help protect people against sites hosted on servers outside of the country. Which is exactly what companies that want to keep doing this would do with their sites. Effectively killing much of the US based hosting business.

Do you have a right to privacy in someone else's home? No. Same goes for their website. That's not to say they can break the law. But trying to find a way to effectively advertise is not breaking the law.

Really? Try inviting someone over then recording their conversation with you in most states? See how quickly they sue you.

Second, many states have absurd laws. That California would let them sue me doesn't really say anything to me.

It would probably depend on the reasons for recording them. If it was to expose criminal activity against you, you'd most likely win. If it was to get information you shouldn't have or record something to black mail them with, you'd lose.

I'm was thinking more of expecting privacy in your use of someone else's computer in their home. Now obviously they can't illegally use information collected to get into your bank account or buy things with your card if they collect the information. But merely collecting it would not be illegal if you have the software installed for tracking what your kids are doing.